1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a Schottky barrier diode having an anode and cathode formed on the same plane, and a method of fabricating the Schottky barrier diode.
2. Description of the Related Art
Among conventional methods of fabricating a Schottky barrier diode formed on a semiconductor substrate, there is a method which includes the steps of forming a cathode contact opening region in a silicon oxide film formed on a semiconductor substrate, selectively diffusing or introducing an impurity having the same conductivity type as the semiconductor substrate into the cathode contact opening region by an ion implantation method or the like to form an ohmic contact in a subsequent step, forming an anode contact opening region, forming a metal film on the anode contact opening region to form a Schottky junction, and forming an anode electrode and a cathode electrode (see Japanese Published Patent Application No. H2-178973).
The anode contact opening region and the cathode contact opening region are formed using masks. Therefore, when the two opening regions are positioned a short distance from each other, the anode electrode and the cathode electrode may be shorted due to misalignment of the masks. Thus, it is necessary to provide a given margin between the anode contact opening region and the cathode contact opening region. However, such as margin can be parasitic resistance between the two opening regions, which could result in a decrease in on current of the Schottky barrier diode.
In the case of fabricating a thin film transistor (TFT) and the conventional Schottky barrier diode over the same substrate, there is still a problem of the decrease in on current due to the parasitic resistance of the Schottky barrier diode.